Red sea program

[my2girls]

Tweaking the dosage is common. You are kind of crossing over into the balling method where Ca, NaHCO3, and Mg are added separately. It really doesn't matter how you do it, as long as your levels stay in balance and consistent.

 

[Tweaked]

Yep, still debating on how I will move forward as the sps grows out. Leaning toward a reactor simply because I love the mechanical side of this hobby. Already have so many toys, switches and probes on my apex all sending alerts with shut down codes etc. - love it! For now I will stick with the abc+ and manually adjust alk. Also I thought I read at one point the abc+ contains more than the foundation elements, it includes some of the minor elements as well.

 

[Tweaked]

Waiting for PC to open so I can stock up some more RS product. Thought I would share amy drying rack I made for my wife when she cleans up after the mess I make lol

 

[Collinrb]

Oh brilliant! Glad to see you actually ran with the idea! I was gonna go with wood, but i could fasion one of these pretty quick! Thank you

 

[Tweaked]

Oh brilliant! Glad to see you actually ran with the idea! I was gonna go with wood, but i could fasion one of these pretty quick! Thank you

Justin had the idea, As you said, I just ran with it. Cheap and quick with the difuser. Keeps it clean and ready for the weekly testings.:thumbsup:

 

[BlueChip]

Looks like your an addict.....to your reef!

 

[Reefir]

I battle low alk with red sea , i wish they would bump up the alk in the the abc ! it seems like everyone has the same low alk with abc ....sales rep says its fine ...he needs a slap and a reef tank i think !

 

[Marc11]

I agree, i use ABC and have to dose alk buffer once a week. It is obviously off. +1 on the slap.

 

[Tweaked]

:lolspin: ^^^

Yep, seems to be the problem around the industry with the ABC+. I was convinced I needed this path due to the other trace elements received via the product. However, with my regular water changes using the RS salt, I am just obsessising, which doesn't take much for me.

So update time. After much reading, I am making the leap to dosing kalk. I picked up the Avast K1 stirrer after reading the reviews which will be supplied via my Tunze ATO. I will be starting slow and will test periodically to make sure everything is u to par. More to follow.

 

[Tweaked]

10/27
Ca 450
Kh 9.8

11/4
Ca 450
Kh 10.4

NO3 .25
PO4 .04

Added kalk stirrer and still playing with it trying to figure out what's going on. Stopped ABC+ and have been relying on the ATO to administer my daily ca/kh needs. Looks promising as its been about two weeks now. My apex controls the ATO and will shut it down and notify me if Ph spikes too high, and I also use a command to shut down ATO for 4 hours during peak lighting as Ph naturally spikes. Slowly figuring it out and keeping my SPS happy.

 

[Reef1121]

Following this thread. I am also using the Red Sea program minus the RE. So going to start that next week. Was worried to do it because some people have noted the water discoloration and spikes in nitrate.

My main issue with the program was like you had the alk being low and my NO3PO4X dropping my nitrate to 0 bu my PO4 still being up at .08

 

[Tweaked]

Following this thread. I am also using the Red Sea program minus the RE. So going to start that next week. Was worried to do it because some people have noted the water discoloration and spikes in nitrate.

My main issue with the program was like you had the alk being low and my NO3PO4X dropping my nitrate to 0 bu my PO4 still being up at .08

.08 isn't that high. For me, I watched the feedings, made sure my DI in my RO/DI unit was new, and did my weekly water changes. Then if your no3 is at zero reduce no pox to 1/2 ml to 1 ml a day for 10 days then hit it again with higher dosages. I am still battling to get the po4 down, but .04 is no cause for alarm.

 

[Tweaked]

So after a few weeks running the kalk stirrer, I have come to the conclusion I need two ATO units ( at least for my current needs). My alk is a tad high, and so is my Ca according to where I want to be. My Ph probe has never spiked above 8.22, but I want the Alk down a bit for now. I either need to run two ATOs, or lessen the Kalk and keep trying. My plan would be to run the ATO with Alk nightly, and the plain water ATO in the day which should steady the Ph as well. For now I am manually attempting this as of tonight's readings. Also started raising the Mg slowly a bit over the next week.

11/12

Ca 450
Alk 10.5
Mg 1200